Why should you recycle your mobile phone?

In UK, millions of people own a mobile phone, with even more unused devices hidden away around our houses.

The average person upgrades their phone every 18 months, which means more and more of us have old mobiles lying around the house.

In 2000, just half of UK adults owned a mobile phone. That figure has grown 43% - or over 21 million people - in just 14 years.

Many people own more than one device. There are 81.1 million UK mobile phone subscriptions, despite only 64.1 million people living in the UK.

That's not accounting for unused phones either. According to our Nation of Clutter study, the average household has 1-3 unused mobile phones.

According to recent UK phone recycling statistics, 46% of people recycle mobile phones. This includes using or giving it away or using phone recyclers like www.sellanymobile.co.uk

Another study suggests that, in total, UK residents have hoarded 6.86 billion of unused mobile phones. Imagine the money people could make if they just recycle phones instead of hoarding them!

According to a recently conducted research, 47.8% of people have at least one unused mobile phone in their home and choose to do nothing with it. It's a shame because mobile recycling is so easy!

It's hard to determine exactly how many people recycle mobile phones, although we have a fairly good idea how many people don't. The UK produces 1.3 million tonnes of electronic waste each year. While this waste isn't all phones, that is the same weight as 2.8 billion Samsung Galaxy S5's!

This waste has an impact on our bank balances too, with 7.62 million of electronics thrown out every year. For the same price, you could buy 1,413,729 iPhone 6s - it really does pay to recycle old phones!

But what should we do with these unused devices?

One option is to have your mobile phone recycled. It's estimated that 93% of UK adults own a mobile phone - just over 49 million people. That's not counting teenagers and children either.

Why should you recycle your mobile phone?

Mobile phone recycling is useful on a personal and global level. According to our Nation of Clutter survey, the average home has 186 items of clutter; recycling your phone is a good way to start clearing your clutter!

You could make quite a bit of money by selling your phone, although the value will drop the longer you leave it lying around.

Phone recycle schemes help reduce the amount of e-waste sent to dumping grounds in some of the world's poorest regions. E-waste sent to these sites is processed in dangerous conditions and can lead to air, water and soil pollution.

Phone recyclers salvage many useful materials from old mobile phones. For every 1 million mobiles recycled, 35,724lbs of copper, 772lbs of silver and 75lbs of gold can be recovered.

There are plenty of reasons to recycle your phone: making some money, clearing clutter and helping the environment too. So don't chuck your phone away, or hold onto it for too long : recycle your mobiles and smartphones.